Ukrainian rail officials say the drone may have targeted a diplomatic train carrying Boris Johnson and other Western dignitaries, moments before it struck a separate passenger train.
A Russian drone struck a Ukrainian passenger train near Yahodyn station, close to the border with Poland, on September 13, 2026, minutes after a separate "diplomatic train" carrying former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior European officials had passed through the same route, according to Ukrainian officials and BBC reporting. The strike damaged the train's engine but caused no injuries, as passengers were evacuated safely.
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Former CIA Director David Petraeus was aboard another train stopped at Yahodyn station at the time of the strike, placing him in close proximity to the attack, the New York Times reported in a piece by Ian Fisher and Maria Varenikova titled "Close Call for Ex-C.I.A. Head as Russia Strikes Ukraine Near Polish Border." Ukraine's state railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, said passengers on the struck train received an evacuation alert roughly 15 minutes before impact. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who was traveling on the diplomatic train with Johnson and UK security adviser Jonathan Powell, told the BBC that passengers were instructed to prepare for evacuation before being allowed to continue toward Dorohusk station in Poland, which they reached without further incident.
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Ukrzaliznytsia said it was "quite likely" the drone had been aimed at the diplomatic train, noting its departure had been moved earlier than scheduled for security reasons. Russian authorities said they were targeting "railway infrastructure" in western Ukraine, part of a broader campaign against transport links. Officials estimated the strike landed roughly two kilometers from the Polish border, underscoring the proximity of Russian strikes to NATO territory. Johnson wrote on social media platform X that he did not know what "warped logic" led Vladimir Putin to "blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning," calling it the kind of "random and senseless attack" Ukrainians face daily. The incident adds to concerns, previously reported by the New York Times regarding Russian sabotage risks in Europe, about strikes occurring near Poland's frontier as Western officials continue high-level travel to and from Kyiv.
